


Rocks Buried Under Snow

by yuletide_archivist



Category: Men With Brooms (2002)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-12-15
Updated: 2004-12-15
Packaged: 2018-01-25 05:02:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1632902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for JennyB</p>
    </blockquote>





	Rocks Buried Under Snow

**Author's Note:**

> Written for JennyB

 

 

Snow crunched under Neil's boots as he made his way down the outside steps to Lennox's apartment. He rapped his knuckles on the storm door, then blew a breath into his cupped fist, trying to warm his fingers.

Neil knew Lennox was home; he could see the TV flickering through the thin curtains. He knocked again, and from inside the apartment Neil heard as Lennox started coughing up a lung. The distinct scent of pot smoke wafted through the doorway, and Neil kicked the door with the toe of his boot.

"Open the door," he called, twisting his foot so the heavy heel of his boot hit the door this time. "It's fucking freezing out here."

The curtain fluttered from inside the apartment and Neil saw one of Lennox's red-tinged eyes peering out.

Neil glared at him. "Let. Me in. The fucking. _House."_

"All right, all right." Neil heard the locks being thrown, and then the door was pulled open. "Why didn't you just say so, Bucyk?" Lennox said, grinning as he threw his arms out.

Neil pushed past him and rubbed his hands together, trying to get some feeling back in his fingers. The wedding band he wore spun loosely, and Neil pressed his thumb to the underside of his finger, holding it in place. "Where you been the past few days?" Neil asked.

"Around," Lennox said. "You know how it goes." Lennox pushed the door closed and walked around Neil to sit down on the couch. He reached out and pulled the burning joint from the ashtray and stuck it between his lips. Stretching out his legs, he kicking them up on the battered wood coffee table, crossing them at the ankles.

"You know, the last time Santa Claus showed up on my doorstep on Christmas Eve, he at least had a six pack and a dime bag." He looked up at Neil and took a long drag off his joint. "What the fuck did you bring me?" Lennox pulled the joint from his mouth, holding it loosely between his fingers. His voice was raspy as he spoke, and he held his breath for a second, before letting it all out in a rush, filling the air in front of him with smoke.

"Santa Claus brought you that last year?" Neil asked, pushing Lennox's feet off the coffee table and sitting next to him on the couch. "Or Cutter?"

Lennox leaned his head back into the cushions, a slow grin spreading across his face. "Well, you sure don't waste any time," he murmured. "No: 'Hey Lennox, so good to see you.' Or 'It sure is cold out. You think it's gonna snow today?' No, with you it's all: 'Where you been, Lennox?' and 'Where the fuck is Cutter?'" Lennox took another quick drag on the joint, then leaned over to stub it out carefully in the ashtray on the edge of the table. "And I gotta tell you, my friend, I'm getting a little bored with those questions."

"I didn't ask-"

"Sure you did." Lennox cut him off, and despite everything he had probably smoked that day, when he looked at Neil his eyes were bright blue and crystal clear. "That's all anybody asks me these days. Believe me, Bucyk, yours is not the first curious mind to darken my door."

"It's been over six months," Neil said, ignoring Lennox. "And I still don't get it. It's like--" Neil leaned forward and lowered his voice. "I keep feeling like we missed something, you know? Like something happened - some major fucking thing, and we were all..." Neil's eyes darted quickly to the joint in the ashtray, then up to Lennox's face. "Too busy or something. Didn't fucking notice. You guys were like this," Neil said, twisting the fingers of his right hand together. "He didn't tell you anything? You don't even have a hint?"

"Not even a little bit," Lennox said, picking up the remote and flicking through the channels.

Neil kept his eyes focused on Lennox, the TV nothing but an annoying flicker of color in the corner of his vision. By the time Lennox was about to start his fourth rotation of the channels, Neil reached out and grabbed the remote from his hand and tossed it onto the coffee table. "Look, what I'm saying is-"

"I know what you're saying, all right? Jesus." Lennox shook his head and sat straight up next to him. "I _know_ what you're saying, but now you have to listen to what _I'm_ saying, got it?"

Even as Neil nodded, he wondered if he'd ever seen Lennox this serious about anything before in his life.

"I don't know where he is," Lennox said slowly. "Okay? He didn't tell me. I haven't gotten any 'Wish you were here' postcards. Maybe he just...who the fuck knows? Left. He just _left,_ and no matter how many times people ask me, I'm not gonna have anything new to tell them."

Neil sighed and let his head fall back against the couch. "All right, all right. It's just that-" It still didn't make any sense. No matter how many times he thought about it, it never made any _sense._ "We were so fucking close this time. Close to the finals, the championship. We really could have done it, and sometimes I wonder-"

"Don't wonder." Lennox looked away and reached out to grab his pack of rolling papers. He pulled one out and blew against it gently before flattening out the creases and placing it on the coffee table, then grabbed the small tin next to it and popped the lid, carefully measuring out a joints worth of weed into the open paper. "It's done with," he said, carefully rolling his joint. "Nothing to wonder about anymore."

"Yeah. Yeah, okay." Neil stood up from the couch, and started making his way toward the door. "I know we don't know _why,"_ Neil said as he turned around. "But if you had to guess..."

Lennox ignored him for so long Neil thought he wasn't even going to answer. He just rolled his joint, stuck it between his lips, and pulled out his lighter, flipping it over and over again in the palm of his hand. "If I had to guess, huh?" Lennox finally said.

"Yeah." Neil watched Lennox from across the room. "Gimme one guess. Why do you think he left?"

The lighter sparked, a tiny flame flickering off the top. Neil watched as Lennox just stared at it, his eyes never moving, never blinking just staring at that tiny burst of fire. "Maybe he just couldn't take the heat," Lennox finally said, before leaning his head forward, touching the tip of his joint to the flame.

Neil frowned. "You mean Julie?"

Lennox smirked around the joint and took a long drag, then held it out for Neil to take. "Oh. I don't know if I would say that."

Neil shook his head - Lennox was making even less sense than usual today.

"Go home to your wife, Bucyk. Don't you worry about Cutter." Lennox took another hit. "God knows he's not out there worrying about you and me."

"Yeah. That's..." Neil nodded his head and went to the door. "You're probably right," he finished quietly.

Cold air seeped through the crappy insulation in Lennox's doorway, and Neil shivered and fished his gloves out of his pocket. There was still something off, something unfinished, and it took Neil a minute to figure out what it was, but when he did, he crossed his arms over his chest and stood there silently until Lennox twisted his head around to look at him.

"What?" Lennox asked.

"Hey Lennox, so good to see you," Neil said seriously.

Lennox stared at Neil like he'd gone nuts, before smiling back at him slowly. "Yeah, man. You too."

"It sure is cold out," Neil said. "You think it's gonna snow today?"

"I think we might get some snow, yeah." Lennox said, and Neil nodded and opened the door.

"Later, Lennox." Neil started to walk outside, but then stopped and turned back around. "I'll stop by," he said. "After the holidays. We'll go catch a game or something."

Lennox watched him quietly, before nodding and leaning back into the cushions. He picked up the remote and started flipping through the channels again, but Neil could see that he was smiling. "Yeah," Lennox said. "We can do that."

Neil waved and pulled the door shut behind him. The air was cold, and he took a deep breath, holding it hard in his lungs before blowing it out in a long rush. He bounded up the steps, and smiled to himself when something cold and wet fell against his face.

With his hands shoved deep in his pockets, Neil crossed the lawn and made his way to his car in the softly falling snow.

 

 

 


End file.
